Claim
Page 61
Tessa grinned up at him as the waitress tottered off on her high heels to get their drinks. “She looked very disappointed, didn’t she?”
He shrugged. “She shouldn’t be. All she needed to do was see the way I was looking at you to realize that you’re the only woman in the world as far as I’m concerned. And if she makes you uncomfortable, darling, I can easily ask for a different waitress.”
She shook her head. “It doesn’t matter. Especially since I’m not sure how much more I’ll be drinking tonight after that bottle of champagne we had at dinner. Not to mention the pre-dinner cocktails. I’m already a little tipsy.”
Ian gave her a very suggestive leer. “Only a little?” he asked teasingly. “You know how much I enjoy it when you’ve had a bit more than usual to drink. You’re even more amorous then.”
Telling herself that she really wasn’t doing this to make sure every other woman in the club - including the overly bold cocktail waitress - knew that Ian was her man and that nobody had better even think of flirting with him, Tessa hooked an arm around his neck and brought his head down to meet her very eager, very amorous kiss. She felt the rumble of laughter deep in his chest as he hauled her against him, but he kissed her back with equal ardor. Her free hand dropped to his hard, muscular thigh caressingly, but stopped shy of sliding further up his leg to where she knew he’d already be hard.
“Perhaps I was wrong,” he whispered, his teeth nibbling seductively on her earlobe. “You’re already very, very amorous, aren’t you darling? Enough that you probably don’t need this drink.”
Their drinks had been left on the table during their passionate embrace, and Tessa felt a rather mean-spirited pleasure in knowing that the waitress had witnessed that very steamy kiss. She picked up the frosted martini glass that held her drink, and clinked it against Ian’s crystal tumbler of Scotch.
“Cheers,” she told him with a saucy wink, and then bolted half the lemon drop down in one gulp.
He laughed, and merely sipped his drink before setting the glass back on the table. “Here’s to our last evening in Paris,” he toasted. “At least for this trip. I hope that you enjoyed our visit here, Tessa, because this has always been one of my very favorite cities in the entire world.”
She nodded enthusiastically. “Oh, yes! I love it here, too. And I’ll happily return whenever you like. These past few days have been wonderful, Ian. Thank you for bringing me here.”
Ian pressed a kiss to her cheek. “You’re very welcome, darling,” he murmured. “And while we will certainly return to Paris as often as possible, I have many other places in the world I want to show you. Which brings up the subject of our honeymoon. Have you given any thought as to where you might like to go? Any specific place that you’ve always wanted to visit?”
“Well, you’ve already brought me to Italy and Paris, so I suppose I should pick a different place for our honeymoon,” she mused. “Someplace with a beach and where we can have total privacy sounds perfect. I’ll let you come up with some suggestions that fit the bill.”
“Several come to mind. We could go to the South Pacific, Fiji or Bora Bora or Tahiti. Or back to Hawaii. And we have a number of properties in the Caribbean, of course - St. John, Barbados, Aruba. Though my favorite of them all is on Virgin Gorda. While we’re in London, we can take a look at the individual websites so that you can find out a bit more about each one.”
Tessa snuggled up against him, her hand dropping back down to rest on his thigh. “I never imagined I’d ever get the chance to travel to any of those places,” she confessed. “But, honestly, so long as I’m alone with you, it doesn’t really matter where we go.”
She could see how his hazel eyes darkened, even in the dimly lit club. “Careful about making those sorts of statements, love,” he cautioned. “Because it only tempts me to lock you up in a hotel suite nonstop for two weeks. Without any clothes.”
“I wouldn’t complain about that,” she whispered back, her hand inching ever closer to his crotch. “As long as you were naked, too, of course.” She slid her other hand inside his suit jacket to caress his rib cage and abs. “In fact, we could go back to our hotel room right now and get in some practice for our honeymoon.”
Ian chuckled but took a firm grip of the hand that was getting perilously close to his private parts. “Greedy girl,” he crooned, nuzzling the side of her neck. “Wasn’t this afternoon enough for you?”
“Never,” she replied emphatically. “It’s never enough.”
He brought the hand he’d captured up to his lips, pressing a kiss to her palm. “It’s the same for me, you know,” he told her in a low, husky voice. “We don’t have to stay here very long, love. I just wanted you to have the experience of being in a place like this. Finish your drink, and then perhaps you’ll let me embarrass myself out on the dance floor.”
She took a sip of her drink. “You’re a wonderful dancer, Ian. And we’ve danced together several times.”
Ian grimaced, inclining his head towards the packed dance floor. “Not to this kind of music. And what’s going on out there doesn’t much resemble any sort of dancing I’ve ever done before.”
The music was the typical sort of loud, throbbing, bass-infused techno beats that were inherent to clubs like this. A quick glance at the dance floor revealed dozens of couples writhing against each other, a much different scene than what they were used to seeing in the more sophisticated venues they typically patronized, where they mostly slow danced to soft jazz music.
Tessa bolted down the rest of her lemon drop, realizing that the drinks at this club were a good deal stronger than what she was used to. The alcohol made her uncharacteristically bold, grabbing hold of Ian’s hand and tugging him to his feet as she challenged him. “C’mon. I’ll bet we can figure it out. And if not we can just make out like everyone else seems to be doing.”
He slid an arm around her waist as he guided her onto the crowded dance floor, elbowing people aside to make room for them. The dancers’ bodies were so tightly packed that any semblance of actual dancing had been abandoned in favor of what more closely resembled a slow bump and grind.
Tessa looped her arms around his neck as he pulled her in close, his hands settling on her hips as they, too, performed a slow bump and grind, every inch of their bodies pressed against each other. Her eyes widened in surprise as Ian proved every bit as adept at this sort of dirty dancing as he was at the foxtrot or a waltz.
He shrugged. “She shouldn’t be. All she needed to do was see the way I was looking at you to realize that you’re the only woman in the world as far as I’m concerned. And if she makes you uncomfortable, darling, I can easily ask for a different waitress.”
She shook her head. “It doesn’t matter. Especially since I’m not sure how much more I’ll be drinking tonight after that bottle of champagne we had at dinner. Not to mention the pre-dinner cocktails. I’m already a little tipsy.”
Ian gave her a very suggestive leer. “Only a little?” he asked teasingly. “You know how much I enjoy it when you’ve had a bit more than usual to drink. You’re even more amorous then.”
Telling herself that she really wasn’t doing this to make sure every other woman in the club - including the overly bold cocktail waitress - knew that Ian was her man and that nobody had better even think of flirting with him, Tessa hooked an arm around his neck and brought his head down to meet her very eager, very amorous kiss. She felt the rumble of laughter deep in his chest as he hauled her against him, but he kissed her back with equal ardor. Her free hand dropped to his hard, muscular thigh caressingly, but stopped shy of sliding further up his leg to where she knew he’d already be hard.
“Perhaps I was wrong,” he whispered, his teeth nibbling seductively on her earlobe. “You’re already very, very amorous, aren’t you darling? Enough that you probably don’t need this drink.”
Their drinks had been left on the table during their passionate embrace, and Tessa felt a rather mean-spirited pleasure in knowing that the waitress had witnessed that very steamy kiss. She picked up the frosted martini glass that held her drink, and clinked it against Ian’s crystal tumbler of Scotch.
“Cheers,” she told him with a saucy wink, and then bolted half the lemon drop down in one gulp.
He laughed, and merely sipped his drink before setting the glass back on the table. “Here’s to our last evening in Paris,” he toasted. “At least for this trip. I hope that you enjoyed our visit here, Tessa, because this has always been one of my very favorite cities in the entire world.”
She nodded enthusiastically. “Oh, yes! I love it here, too. And I’ll happily return whenever you like. These past few days have been wonderful, Ian. Thank you for bringing me here.”
Ian pressed a kiss to her cheek. “You’re very welcome, darling,” he murmured. “And while we will certainly return to Paris as often as possible, I have many other places in the world I want to show you. Which brings up the subject of our honeymoon. Have you given any thought as to where you might like to go? Any specific place that you’ve always wanted to visit?”
“Well, you’ve already brought me to Italy and Paris, so I suppose I should pick a different place for our honeymoon,” she mused. “Someplace with a beach and where we can have total privacy sounds perfect. I’ll let you come up with some suggestions that fit the bill.”
“Several come to mind. We could go to the South Pacific, Fiji or Bora Bora or Tahiti. Or back to Hawaii. And we have a number of properties in the Caribbean, of course - St. John, Barbados, Aruba. Though my favorite of them all is on Virgin Gorda. While we’re in London, we can take a look at the individual websites so that you can find out a bit more about each one.”
Tessa snuggled up against him, her hand dropping back down to rest on his thigh. “I never imagined I’d ever get the chance to travel to any of those places,” she confessed. “But, honestly, so long as I’m alone with you, it doesn’t really matter where we go.”
She could see how his hazel eyes darkened, even in the dimly lit club. “Careful about making those sorts of statements, love,” he cautioned. “Because it only tempts me to lock you up in a hotel suite nonstop for two weeks. Without any clothes.”
“I wouldn’t complain about that,” she whispered back, her hand inching ever closer to his crotch. “As long as you were naked, too, of course.” She slid her other hand inside his suit jacket to caress his rib cage and abs. “In fact, we could go back to our hotel room right now and get in some practice for our honeymoon.”
Ian chuckled but took a firm grip of the hand that was getting perilously close to his private parts. “Greedy girl,” he crooned, nuzzling the side of her neck. “Wasn’t this afternoon enough for you?”
“Never,” she replied emphatically. “It’s never enough.”
He brought the hand he’d captured up to his lips, pressing a kiss to her palm. “It’s the same for me, you know,” he told her in a low, husky voice. “We don’t have to stay here very long, love. I just wanted you to have the experience of being in a place like this. Finish your drink, and then perhaps you’ll let me embarrass myself out on the dance floor.”
She took a sip of her drink. “You’re a wonderful dancer, Ian. And we’ve danced together several times.”
Ian grimaced, inclining his head towards the packed dance floor. “Not to this kind of music. And what’s going on out there doesn’t much resemble any sort of dancing I’ve ever done before.”
The music was the typical sort of loud, throbbing, bass-infused techno beats that were inherent to clubs like this. A quick glance at the dance floor revealed dozens of couples writhing against each other, a much different scene than what they were used to seeing in the more sophisticated venues they typically patronized, where they mostly slow danced to soft jazz music.
Tessa bolted down the rest of her lemon drop, realizing that the drinks at this club were a good deal stronger than what she was used to. The alcohol made her uncharacteristically bold, grabbing hold of Ian’s hand and tugging him to his feet as she challenged him. “C’mon. I’ll bet we can figure it out. And if not we can just make out like everyone else seems to be doing.”
He slid an arm around her waist as he guided her onto the crowded dance floor, elbowing people aside to make room for them. The dancers’ bodies were so tightly packed that any semblance of actual dancing had been abandoned in favor of what more closely resembled a slow bump and grind.
Tessa looped her arms around his neck as he pulled her in close, his hands settling on her hips as they, too, performed a slow bump and grind, every inch of their bodies pressed against each other. Her eyes widened in surprise as Ian proved every bit as adept at this sort of dirty dancing as he was at the foxtrot or a waltz.
